Ntandokazi obtained her LLB degree cum laude from the University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa in 2019. She thereafter started an LLM in Shipping Law at the University of Cape Town but transferred to Queen Mary, University of London after being awarded a Commonwealth Master’s Scholarship. She obtained her LLM in International Shipping Law with merit, completing courses in Carriage of Goods by Sea, Legal Aspects of Paperless Trade, Marine Insurance Law, Admiralty Law, Charterparties: Law and Practice, International Finance Law, and Bank Insolvency and Resolution. In addition to her new role in CML, Ntandokazi is also a member of the London Shipping Law Centre.
Presentation
- “Autonomous Shipping: An Examination of International Maritime Security and Port ‘Safety’ “, CML Lunch Seminar Series, 29 March 2023
Working Paper
Ntandokazi has a strong interest in the digitalization and automation of the shipping industry, having completed her LLM dissertation on ‘Examining the maritime risks of autonomous ships and their implications on insurance’. She is continuing her research on autonomous ships, particularly relating to the suitability of developing nations to accommodate such ships.
Project Title
An evaluation of the safe port obligation in the light of smart and autonomous ships
The impact of industry 4.0 on the shipping industry is evident in the development of smarter ships, autonomous ships, the digital exchange of data and the automation of processes. There is a copious amount of investment going into smart and autonomous ships. Both will help achieve a more efficient and sustainable world transport system. The move towards smart and autonomous ships will require changing the maritime transport ecosystem, most importantly, ports and terminals.
Charterers are often under an express or implied obligation to nominate a safe port for the ship concerned. Safety under the safe port warranty extends to the ship’s physical condition and political safety, and administrative, legal or organisational safety. If a charterer breaches the warranty, they may be held liable for the loss or damages arising from the unsafety of the port. Therefore, it is clear that the safe port warranty has important commercial implications. Consequently, ports will have no option but to adapt to safely accommodate smart and autonomous ships or risk being classified as ‘unsafe’, resulting in charterers rightly refraining from nominating such ports. This paper posits that this will likely detrimentally affect developing regions and, therefore, argues that governments in developing regions should increase research and investment in developing smart ports.
This paper will explore the changes required for ports to accommodate smart and autonomous ships safely and consider the areas of concern that could lead to ‘port unsafety’. It will examine how the established law on safe ports will apply to smart and autonomous ships and propose recommendations on harmonising standards.
